Year: 2011

Senior Systems Librarian at Louis Stokes Health Sciences Library

Howard University's Louis Stokes Health Sciences Library is recruiting a Senior Systems Librarian.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

In this senior leadership position the successful candidate will be responsible for the design and development of the Louis Stokes Health Sciences Library's online presence, including content on an electronic resources web site. The Senior Systems Librarian will evaluate, coordinate, and promote the library's electronic resources, including databases, journals, books, and reference sources for users in an ever changing complex academic health sciences center library physical and virtual environment. The incumbent will establish goals and objectives, define needs, and set priorities to ensure the effectiveness of the Louis Stokes Health Sciences Library’s online presence. They will provide leadership for developing and maintaining a comprehensive web site that will support organizational strategies and goals.

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Twitter Updates for 2/3/11

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Systems Librarian at Southern Connecticut State University

Southern Connecticut State University's Library Services is recruiting a Systems Librarian.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The Systems Librarian provides leadership for planning, implementing, and managing library systems, digital services, and information technologies; serves on a variety of internal and external committees; maintains the library website and other library systems, and provides staff technology training. The Systems Librarian also works at the reference desk and serves as liaison to one or more academic departments, providing subject-specific instruction, creating instructional materials and developing collections.

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Europeana Libraries Project Will Add 5 Million Digital Objects to Europeana

Europeana has launched the Europeana Libraries Project.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

Work begins this week to add over 5 million digital objects, ranging from Spanish civil war photographs and handwritten letters from philosopher Immanuel Kant, to Europeana from 19 of Europe's leading research and university libraries.

The project is called Europeana Libraries and it will put many of these treasures online for the first time. It will also add extensive collections from Google Books, theses, dissertations and open-access journal articles to the 15 million items amassed in Europeana to date. Providers include some of Europe's most prestigious universities and research institutes, including the University of Oxford's Bodleian Library, Trinity College Dublin and Lund University.

The assembled objects span centuries of European history. Manuscripts from Serbia date back as far as 1206 and relate to the Ottoman Empire's European territories. Written in Arabic, Ottoman Turkish and Persian, they are being digitised by the University Library of Belgrade. There will also be significant film additions. Footage of talks from 10 Nobel prize winners will be contributed by the University of Vienna and the Wellcome Trust Library in London will add 900 clips from medical science films produced over the past 100 years.

Europeana Libraries is notable not only for the content it will make available online but also because this project brings together national, research and university libraries under one umbrella, to make their materials available via Europeana.

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More Than 80% Energy Savings from Tiered Disk Storage Strategy: Planet Filestore: Final Report

JISC has released Planet Filestore:Final Report.

Here's an excerpt:

Findings

  • By holding the majority of user files on storage which consumes lower amounts of energy, and which is accessed and backed-up less frequently, there were significant percentage energy (and financial) savings. Modelling indicates that moving 80% of files from RAID10 tier 1 storage to nonmirrored RAID5 tier 2 storage results in a 72% energy saving.
  • Cardiff University’s environment, 93% of files were not modified more than 60 days after they were first created. This means that tiered storage would benefit our environment significantly, with an 82% energy saving.
  • Hardware manufacturers' energy consumption statements were experimentally found to be a reasonable guide to maximum power consumption. This is useful to know when using modelling tools.
  • Idle disks may consume almost as much (approximately 90%) energy as busy disks. This means that unless a storage array has "spin-down" features, it is best to add disk capacity only as and when needed.

Read more about it at "Moving Files, Saving Energy."

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Digital Archivist at Columbia University

The Columbia University Libraries are recruiting a Digital Archivist.

Here's an excerpt from the ad (requisition number: 0001678):

The Columbia University Rare Book & Manuscript Library (RBML) seeks a skilled and accomplished electronic records archivist to help design and implement a curatorial and archival program for born-digital materials. While this position is in the RBML, it will work with all of Columbia's special collections units in developing and coordinating a robust and consistent archival program for born digital materials.

Reporting to the Curator of Manuscripts and University Archivist, the Digital Archivist is responsible for identifying and managing born digital content in RBML collections.

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Twitter Updates for 2/2/11

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Senior Manager for Web Initiatives at New York Public Library

The New York Public Library is recruiting a Senior Manager for Web Initiatives.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The Senior Manager will have the following core areas of responsibility:

  • Directly responsible for NYPL.org, Digital Gallery, and the Library Intranet (LAIR).
  • Responsible for working with stakeholders from all parts of the Library (including Library Sites and Services, the Research Libraries, ITG, Communications, Marketing, Collections, EPE, Finance and Legal) to implement Web Projects, Evaluate their usability and impact, and continuously improve them.
  • Projects Include:
    • Public Interfaces of the NYPL Web Catalog (with the ILS team)
    • Digital Humanities projects (maps, menus) and on-line exhibitions
    • eAdvocacy
    • Migration of legacy content
    • Client requests for Website improvements
  • Chiefly responsible for implementing the Research Library 2.0 on-line Strategy, by overseeing the design and implementation of opt-in public profiles, social sharing layer, exposure of collections through APIs, and enabling crowdsourcing.
  • Oversees the implementation of the agile product management framework for the Library's Digital Staff.
  • Manages the continuous improvement of all Web Interfaces through design and development in response to patron and staff needs.
  • Analyzes patterns of Web use and develops strategies for increasing and optimizing traffic.
  • Partners with ITG to keep all sites up and running. This includes Security, Module, Code updates, and Bug Tracking.
  • Pitches the Steering Committee for funding and reports on business results.
  • Works with the Digital Project Mangers to allocate and Manage Developers  time across Digital Projects including those led by others (e.g. repository,certain ILS projects).  

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Open Access: Report on the Implementation of Open Content Licenses in Developing and Transition Countries

The EIFL-OA advocacy program has released Report on the Implementation of Open Content Licenses in Developing and Transition Countries.

Here's an excerpt:

The survey attempted to gather information from a broad spectrum of research institutions in developing and transition countries in order to get a better understanding of the current state of the implementation of open content licenses. We looked at the web sites of 2,489 open access journals and 357 open access repositories from EIFL network countries. And this report highlights the best practices in using open content licenses by open access journals and open access repositories in developing and transition countries.

Some general findings of the survey:

Using open content licenses by open access journals:

  • We identified 556 open access journals that are licensed under open content licenses.
  • There are four types of Creative Commons licenses, which are used – the most liberal Creative Commons Attribution license, Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial license, Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial Share Alike license and the most restrictive Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivative Works license.
  • 94% of the access journals we surveyed are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution license (524 open access journals in Armenia, Bulgaria, China, Egypt, Lithuania, Macedonia, Nigeria, Poland, Russia, South Africa and Thailand).
  • Nine open access journals in China, Russia and South Africa are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial license.
  • Three open access journals in Ghana, Nigeria and Ukraine are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial Share Alike license.
  • And twenty open access journals in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Estonia, Serbia, South Africa, Thailand and Ukraine are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivative Works license.

Using open content licenses by open access repositories:

  • We identified nine open access repositories that are licensed under open content licenses.
  • A repository of open educational materials in South Africa is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution license
  • A repository of open educational materials in Kenya is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license.
  • One repository in China, two repositories in Poland and two repositories in Thailand are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Non-commercial-Share Alike license.
  • A repository in South Africa is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial license.
  • A repository hosted in Argentina is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial No Derivative Works license.
  • Some repositories in Botswana, Poland and South Africa recommend the depositors to use Creative Commons licenses. As a result a number of publications in these repositories are licensed under Creative Commons licenses.

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Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory Adopts Open Access Resolution

Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory has adopted an open access resolution.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

Columbia University is joining a growing movement among universities and research institutions to make scholarly research available free to the public online. Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory is the first program at the university to adopt an open access resolution, which calls for faculty and other researchers to post their scientific papers in online repositories such as Columbia's Academic Commons.

The resolution was adopted by a unanimous vote of Lamont-Doherty's Executive Committee on Dec. 22, 2010, and will be effective on March 1. Similar resolutions have been adopted at Harvard, MIT, Duke, Stanford, and many other universities in the U.S. and several foreign countries.

Lamont-Doherty researchers typically publish scores of articles annually in many of the leading scientific journals. One of the challenges for scientific research, however, is that articles are often available only to researchers at universities and other organizations that pay substantial subscription fees. By posting articles in an open-access repository, authors are able to make their works freely and widely accessible to anyone in the world with an Internet connection. . . .

In addition to increasing the availability of research, the resolution has implications for agreements between authors and publishers regarding the copyrights of the individual articles. According to Dr. Kenneth Crews, director of Columbia's Copyright Advisory Office, the resolution underscores the connection between publication agreements and the ability to use and share one's own scholarly works. "While nothing in the resolution will upend publication conventions, the movement toward open access is raising awareness of the need to draft better agreements and for authors to be good stewards of their own copyrights," he observed. . . .

Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory is a key component of the Earth Institute at Columbia University and is one of the world's leading research centers seeking fundamental knowledge about the origin, evolution and future of the natural world. More than 300 research scientists and students study the planet from its deepest interior to the outer reaches of its atmosphere, on every continent and in every ocean. From global climate change to earthquakes, volcanoes, nonrenewable resources, environmental hazards and beyond, observatory scientists provide a rational basis for the difficult choices facing humankind. For more on Lamont's research, visit the web site at http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/.

Information Technology Manager at Cedar Rapids Public Library

The Cedar Rapids Public Library is recruiting an Information Technology Manager. Salary range: $64,875-$89,086.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The City of Cedar Rapids is currently recruiting for an Information Technology Manager for our Public Library. We are seeking a change agent, to assist us in reinventing the library. The CRPL lost its primary facility in the historic flooding of 2008. Now we have the rare and exciting opportunity to reinvent ourselves! The ideal candidate is an innovator and provocateur—the architect of new products and services. They are a team builder who finds practical solutions to business problems. They make everyone else’s game better. Come and change our culture, processes, and tools by translating mundane and emergent technologies into products and services prized by our customers.

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Twitter Updates for 2/1/11

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Sr. Technical Analyst at the University of Notre Dame

The University of Notre Dame's Hesburgh Libraries are recruiting a Sr. Technical Analyst. Hiring range: $42,931-$73,956.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The Project Developer/Senior Technical Analyst is primarily responsible for support and ongoing development of CORAL (electronic resources management system developed in house using Object Oriented PHP, MySQL and JQuery/Ajax), Datamart (locally developed reporting system to facilitate management and statistical reporting of Aleph data using an open source ETL, shell scripting and Oracle), and Bibliographic Statistics database (locally designed MS SQL database for gathering statistics across the Libraries).

The incumbent also provide support for electronic resources applications, including Metalib, SFX, and e-journals locator. The applications support includes systems upgrades, enhancement implementation, and code problems fixes. The position works closely with Senior Project/Application Developer, Senior Technical Consultant Analyst for SFX and electronic journals, Electronic Resources Librarian, and Systems administrator.

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Wiley Open Access Launched

John Wiley & Sons has launched Wiley Open Access.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

Wiley Open Access will provide authors wishing to publish their research outcomes in an open access journal with a range of new high quality publications which meet the requirements of funding organizations and institutions where these apply. . . .

The new journals are being launched in collaboration with a group of international professional and scholarly societies with which Wiley currently partners.  Each journal will appoint an Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Board responsible for ensuring that all articles are rigorously peer-reviewed, and each journal will be offered with the full functionality of Wiley Online Library.

The new Wiley Open Access journal Brain and Behavior will publish open access research across neurology, neuroscience, psychiatry and psychology.  Brain and Behavior’s newly appointed Editor-in-Chief, Andrei V. Alexandrov, Professor of Neurology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, comments:

"With the launch of Brain and Behavior, the Editorial Board and I, along with the support of many international societies, will offer the research community a high quality peer-reviewed journal that meets the needs of those authors who wish to publish their work in an open access environment. I am delighted to be working with Wiley to deliver this important new service."

Professor Allen Moore, University of Exeter and newly appointed Editor-in-Chief of Ecology and Evolution comments:

"I am excited to be involved with this new open access journals initiative.  Ecology and Evolution will deliver rapid decisions and fast publication of research in all areas of ecology, evolution and conservation science.  By working in collaboration with leading societies to deliver open access to all, this new journal offers authors an ideal place to publish their work quickly to the broadest possible audience." . . .

Wiley Open Access journals will be published under the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.  A publication fee will be payable by authors on acceptance of their articles.  Wiley will introduce a range of new payment schemes to enable academic and research institutions, funders, societies, and corporations to actively support their researchers and members who wish to publish in Wiley Open Access journals. 

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"The Impact of the Supreme Court’s Decision in Costco v. Omega on Libraries"

The Library Copyright Alliance has released "The Impact of the Supreme Court's Decision in Costco v. Omega on Libraries."

Here's an excerpt:

On December 13, 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Costco v. Omega in a manner that eliminated none of the uncertainty caused by the lower court's ruling in that case. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit had ruled that the copyright law's "first sale doctrine" did not apply to copies manufactured abroad. This ruling cast doubt on a library's ability to circulate books and other materials manufactured outside of the United States. In a 4 to 4 vote, the Supreme Court affirmed the lower court's judgment "by an equally divided Court." This means that the Ninth Circuit's ruling stands within the Ninth Circuit, but is not a binding precedent on courts in the rest of the country. Libraries must now decide whether to change their purchasing and lending practices in light of the Supreme Court's decision. This memorandum suggests that a combination of defenses, including section 602(a)(3)(C) of the Copyright Act, the Ninth Circuit's Drug Emporium exception, implied license, and fair use, allow libraries throughout the country to continue their existing purchasing and circulation practices with a fair degree of confidence that they will not infringe copyright by doing so.

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Librarian (Digital Projects) at National Agricultural Library

The National Agricultural Library is recruiting a Librarian (Digital Projects). Note: "This is a term appointment not to exceed 13 months. Position may be extended up to a maximum total appointment time of 4 years."

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

You will participate in the planning, development, implementation and maintenance of core digital initiatives. Duties include but are not limited to the following:

  • Create and/or add meta-data, classification, and search capabilities;
  • Recommend enhancements to NAL’s web presence;
  • Seek creative solutions to leverage current technologies to integrate content and realize improvements in information management, such as Web 2.0, RSS feeds, wikis, and blogs;
  • Initiate the development of electronic library information tools and services for information delivery, such as Zotero, EndNotes, and RefWorks;
  • Collaborate with task forces and groups of diverse national and international members to forge information-sharing partnerships, enhance digital collections, and further database or other digital development initiatives; and
  • Provide formal and informal training and support in web-based and traditional formats to staff and customers to facilitate effective use of digital content and technologies.

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Twitter Updates for February 1, 2011

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Systems Librarian at University of British Columbia

The University of British Columbia Library is recruiting a Systems Librarian.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

We are seeking an innovative, experienced and professional librarian to contribute to the development and delivery for Library-wide information services and resources, in support of the university’s teaching and research programs. Key responsibilities will include: managing and coordinating independently or as part of a team, the Library's integrated library system (ILS), currently, Ex Libris/Voyager, and the Library's suite of utilities and applications supporting the ILS; involvement in the development, integration, customization, and maintenance of the Library's online infrastructure in relation to the ILS; liaising with Library Systems, Technical Services, Finance, and other Library staff regarding ILS services, electronic resource management, metadata, digitization and other initiatives; preparing systems-related documentation and supporting the production of statistical reports. This position will participate in the planning and implementation of relevant services, policies, and procedures and will also coordinate and supervises staff, services and special projects as required.

This position will report to the Associate University Librarian, Library Systems & Information Technology and works collaboratively with colleagues in the Library, UBC, and beyond.

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Scholarly Electronic Publishing Weblog (January 31, 2011)

The latest update of the Scholarly Electronic Publishing Weblog (SEPW) is now available. It provides information about new works related to scholarly electronic publishing, such as books, e-prints, journal articles, magazine articles, technical reports, and white papers.

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Twitter Updates for 1/31/11

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Digital Content Specialist at University of Bridgeport

The University of Bridgeport is recruiting a Digital Content Specialist.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

Reporting to the AVP Information Technology and CIO, the Digital Content Specialist supports initiates to create, disseminate, and archive electronic content across University enterprise platforms. These include: the ExLibris suite of library systems; Equella institutional repository; web; and Datatel sharepoint portal. The incumbent works closely with content managers across the University in academic and administrative departments to develop standards and policies; maintain metadata thesauri: maintain library web and portal presence; handle synchronous learning content; manage intellectual property and permissions; trouble shoot technical problems; and support content management system user groups. The Digital Content Specialist participates fully in developing the strategic direction of the University in managing digital content, and is responsible for researching emerging developments. He/she maintains relationships with the vendor community.

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RePEc (Research Papers in Economics) Now Indexes One Million Documents

RePEc (Research Papers in Economics) now has now indexed one million documents.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

RePEc has reached over the last week-end a historic mark: one million works in Economics and neighboring sciences are now indexed, of which 87.5% are available for download. The bibliographic database is comprised by 59.2% of journal articles, 38.5% of working papers, 1.3% of book chapters, 0.8% of books, and 0.2% of software components. All this material has been indexed by volunteers maintaining close to 1300 archives.

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Assistant Dean, University Library Systems at University of South Alabama

The University of South Alabama Library is recruiting an Assistant Dean, University Library Systems.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

This is a twelve month library management position reporting to the Dean of University Libraries with the following responsibilities:

  • Oversees the University Libraries networked and microcomputer applications, including the ExLibris Voyager integrated automation system, print/copying system, and thin-client public workstations
  • Responsible for report generation and analyses, security profiles for operators
  • Manages University Library computer labs
  • Acts as liaison to library vendors
  • Collaborates with library staff regarding all computer hardware, software, network/telecommunication needs
  • Supervises two full-time staff
  • Coordinates related staff training and continuing education
  • Works closely with staff in the Computer Services and Telecommunications department
  • Responsible for identifying emerging technologies that will enhance library services

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"Highlights from the SOAP Project Survey. What Scientists Think about Open Access Publishing"

Suenje Dallmeier-Tiessen et al. have self-archived "Highlights from the SOAP Project Survey. What Scientists Think about Open Access Publishing" in arXiv.org.

Here's an excerpt:

The SOAP (Study of Open Access Publishing) project has run a large-scale survey of the attitudes of researchers on, and the experiences with, open access publishing. Around forty thousands answers were collected across disciplines and around the world, showing an overwhelming support for the idea of open access, while highlighting funding and (perceived) quality as the main barriers to publishing in open access journals. This article serves as an introduction to the survey and presents this and other highlights from a preliminary analysis of the survey responses. To allow a maximal re-use of the information collected by this survey, the data are hereby released under a CC0 waiver, so to allow libraries, publishers, funding agencies and academics to further analyse risks and opportunities, drivers and barriers, in the transition to open access publishing.

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Twitter Updates for 1/29/11

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